backpacking pics

Rosie and I hiked into lake Betsy for the first night over Hades pass from the grandview trail head




Looking Northwest across granddaddy lake, nice bandanna!


Native cutthroat in granddaddy tributaries


Indian fishing- my hand is numb!


Thrown to the shore, the Shoshones would be proud


Cutthroat!- this is a small one



My golf swing is miserable, maybe when kyle moves back I will have reason to improve. For now all I need is a 7 iron and allot of vertical below.


cooling off after a tough day on the links


good times, now back to bike racing.

showers are nice

Good to be home after a couple days of backpacking in the Uintas, we had a great time and I will post some pictures but I left my camera at a friends house tonight. It seems I am having the hardest time keeping the blog up to date, just to many fun things to do in the summer.

Tomorrow night Rosie and I are going to burn some onetrack at Solitude and then go to dinner at Silver Fork for our 4 year anniversary. Doesn't get better than that. I guess the Solitude weeknight series kicks off tomorrow but we only have a babysitter for a limited time and Rosie gets plenty of opportunities to stand around and watch me race.

I will get some good pics up soon!

where the livin's easy

Emigration Canyon is home to the Rubber Boa seen here on our picnic table, I have been catching tons of these little guys lately and they are fun to play with as they are harmless but curl up around your fingers and try to put a squeeze on you.


Fathers Day Rules. I woke up to blueberry waffles and breakfast with my girls. Eva is pretty proud of her pictures, I think she had some help from mom. The rest of the day included Sunday school with the 12 year old crew, dropping little blake off at DV, skipping the STXC and riding DV- silver lake-mid mountain-secret lake- crest trail- big water-millcreek- to in laws for fathers day dinner. It would have been perfect other than falling over and scraping up my hands then flatting and having a faulty air can and walking/riding a flat down MC.




So the weekend was a good time and I have to thank everyone who made the 2nd annual summer BBQ a success. The smores flowed like melted chocolate and marshmallows on Graham and all seemed to have a good time with only a few minor injuries. I think next year we are bringing in a mechanical bull for the drive way to keep "some people" occupied.

The NORBA XC ended up about exactly how I expected- hot, dusty, starting at the back, not much energy or leg but forging on because I learned my lesson in AZ. I am glad I raced despite not wanting to support the current regime, I am proud of my mental game for finishing it out despite knowing it was not my best effort. Some time this year, I hope to tease out the legs I know I can I have. I will spare you the details of the race as you my see a little write up in CyclingUtah.

I was fortunate to be chased down by the USADA chaperon directly after finishing the XC, what a concept a chaperon for doping control. It is very dificult to pee after 2.5 hrs in 90F. I think the first couple litters of water consumed just settled the dust in my mouth.

Now on to a week of taking it easy and playing with the moto before getting back to some bike practice/commuting.

the weekend is coming

I am all tired out from a busy week and need to get rested up for some racing or at least for the big summer bash on Saturday night after the NORBA. Come one come all to emigration canyon near the top of the oaks, bring your own drinks and anything else you want to share. We got the grillins and plan to christen the new fire pit with some smores, I like extra chocolate.

I got some brake fluid in the thumper and now I can slow down all that torque

hydrate now for a hot one!

delegate

No time to post so I have brought in some professionals; sager, fox, and blake will tell the weekends stories for me. I will leave you with a shot of my new moto, enjoy!

The annual gillespie summer party is going down this Saturday after the NORBA at the EC compound, details to come!

rain

yeeaaa!

Sundance and beyond

Time has just got away from me now that I am feeling better. The Sundance race was good time and considering my preparation I was happy with how I felt. I rode steady throughout the race and felt good on the climbs, I just did not have the power or acceleration to go with Alex G. Hopefully over the next couple weeks I can stay healthy and get fit, I want that motorcycle like feeling.

I also got up in the high country over the weekend with an emigration- millcreek- dog lake- desolation lake- crest trail- big water- millcreek- back to emigration loop with foxy, bob rode the pavement with us but missed the tachy dirt shredding with no hikers. When I got back Rosie had some grilled fish waiting for me, I have the best wife ever!

Burning all this one track got me itching for more and I was thinking about hosting a cool rode from my house as soon as we hit a weekend without racing. What do think about My house-killyons- afflect park-big mountain-old mormon trail-east canyon road- jeremy trails-glenwilde-connector trail- preserve- round valley-deer valley- mid mountain- crest trail- millcreek-lambs-little mountain- back to emigration. That's a days worth of single track with a good spot for lunch. I will look at some dates, who's in?

Training wise I am going to keep it pretty short this week and just try to get some intensity in on my commute home, hopefully I can get the power up for DV so I don't get dropped Also looks like we might get some rain/snow which will help out the dust situation.

Sorry for the boring post with no pics but thats life